'Heathens' Not Welcome at Air Force Academy

by Bill Berkowitz

In late April, the Washington-based Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, a longtime religious watchdog group,
called the nation's attention to numerous incidents of religious bias and the
official promotion of fundamentalist Christianity at the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based
United States Air Force Academy  a problem that apparently has been brewing
for quite some time.

Unlike other recent scandals at U.S. military academies involving cadets cheating,
the violation of the honor code, and cases of sexual harassment and rape 
which were often written off as the behavior of a few errant cadets  attorneys
for Americans United found that at the Air Force Academy there was "systematic
and pervasive religious bias and intolerance at the highest levels of the academy
command structure."

This included pressuring cadets to undertake religious instruction and proselytizing
by faculty members in the classroom. In one instance, cadets who declined to
attend chapel after dinner were marched back to their dormitories by upperclass
cadet staff in what was dubbed a "Heathen Flight."

The immediate reaction was somewhat predictable: Academy officials circled
the wagons, while evangelical Christians claimed to be victims of an orchestrated
campaign against them, or dismissed the incidents as the product of overzealous
youth.

An official with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family  the hometown
multi-million dollar, multimedia, and politically powerful ministry  claimed
evangelical Christians were victims of "a witch hunt."

Jerry White, president emeritus of the Navigators and a former academy instructor,
denied that religious bias was "a pervasive or major problem." In
an interview with the Charlotte Observer, White chalked it up to the
natural over-exuberance of youth, as well as "a bit of [youthful] intolerance."

However, now that the Academy's superintendent has admitted that religious
intolerance is a deeply rooted problem that will take years to correct, the
Christian Right's rationales no longer hold water.

According to Americans United's well-documented 14-page
report [.pdf], the problem is not that evangelicals haven't been able to
speak about their religious beliefs; the problem is that cadets who aren't evangelical
Christians, and have no interest in converting, were dive-bombed by religious
propaganda intended to convert them to the faith.

In 2004, when Mel Gibson's controversial movie The Passion of the Christ
was about to be released, Cadet First Class Casey Weinstein, a Jewish graduate
of the Air Force Academy, discovered that Gibson-backers had placed promotional
leaflets advertising the film on the breakfast plates of the school's nearly
4,000 cadets.

"As the cadets ate, images from the film were flashed on cafeteria screens
used for official academy messages," the Charlotte Observer recently
reported. In the next few days, more flyers would appear at breakfast and in
addition, "mass e-mail messages" were sent recommending that cadets
"attend special screenings of the film."

Weinstein is the son of Mikey Weinstein, an attorney and academy graduate who
over the years had expressed his consternation over the Academy's religious
practices.

In an opinion piece published by the Colorado Springs Gazette, John
J. Michels Jr., an Academy graduate and former military attorney who now works
in the corporate world, suggested that the incidents of bias could not have
happened with the knowledge of Academy officials.

"Large crucifixes being erected in the cadet area outside of the chapel,
fliers placed under doors on Easter morning celebrating the reincarnation of
Jesus, and video projections of Bible verses on screens in the dining hall during
mandatory meal formations do not occur without the blessing (figuratively, and
perhaps literally) of the commander," he wrote.

Officials at the Academy were unprepared to deal with the sudden media scrutiny:
In mid-May, the Associated Press reported that shortly after a Pentagon task
force assigned to investigate the charges arrived at the Academy, the No. 2
chaplain claimed that "she was fired by her boss for speaking up about
religious intolerance among cadets and staff, including allegations that evangelical
Christians wield too much influence."

Capt. Melinda Morton, a Lutheran, "said she was pressured to deny a report
by Yale Divinity School professor Kristen Leslie that a chaplain told 600 cadets
during basic training last year 'to go back to their tents and tell their fellow
cadets that those who are not born again will burn in the fires of hell.'"

In an early June meeting of the Anti-Defamation League's executive committee
in Denver, Lt. Gen. John Rosa Jr., the Air Force Academy's superintendent, admitted
that the campus had been inundated by cadets bent on evangelical proselytizing,
and acknowledged that it might take several years to root the problem out.

No one is suggesting that evangelicals at the Academy surrender their religious
beliefs.

"Sharing your faith with another is not a problem," said Rev. Barry
Lynn, the executive director of Americans United. "But in a hierarchy,
when highly placed individuals manipulate a chain-of-command structure to pressure
others to adopt their faith, that is a problem."

Meanwhile, Jennifer Stephens, an Air Force spokesperson at the Pentagon, told
the Charlotte Observer that the Pentagon had "not seen any evidence
of this being an issue throughout the Air Force."

She acknowledged that the Americans United report provided "a good opportunity
to take a look at the policies, the procedures, and the religious climate at
the Academy."

On May 27, a new Air Force policy statement was issued. "Senior leaders,
commanders and supervisors at every level must be particularly sensitive to
the fact that subordinates can consider your public expressions of belief systems
coercive," said the statement. "Using your place at the podium as
a platform for your personal beliefs can be perceived as misuse of office."

However, a week later, Wing Commander Nicholas Jurewicz sent an e-mail to thousands
of fellow cadets that listed "a number of quotations including several
about Jesus. He also included a Bible verse, 'Bear one another's burdens, and
so you will fulfill the law of Christ,' the Associated Press reported.

"Respecting the Spiritual Values of All People"  which deals
with aspects of religious intolerance  is a mandatory training given to
cadets, faculty members, and staff on campus.

In another move, Lt. Col. Vicki Rast was recently appointed to the newly created
position of director of the Climate and Culture Office. One of the things the
Climate and Culture Office might consider looking into is the effect that the
Colorado Springs evangelical community has on the cadets.

"Focus on the Family is the single biggest employer in Colorado Springs,
with its $90 million dollar budget," Lynn told IPS in a telephone interview.
"When cadets go out into the community, they experience a world outside
the institution that is heavily steeped in evangelism."

During a recent drive through Colorado, Lynn said he "turned on the radio
and a number of Christian programs were being aired on different stations at
the same time. There is no question that the community's general atmosphere
is supportive of extensive evangelical activity."

After issuing its report, Americans United recommended that Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld immediately investigate the situation.

"So far, I would give the Department of Defense a reasonably good grade
in dealing with the religious intolerance problems at the Academy," Lynn
said. "They've sent out the task force and we are expecting their report
any day now. They've taken this seriously, as we hoped they would."

Bill Berkowitz
is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange
column Conservative Watch documents the strategies,
players, institutions, victories, and defeats of the U.S. Right.

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